Close quarters: UNH women win another tight one

DURHAM — Nothing has come easy so far this season for the University of New Hampshire women's basketball team.

And it wasn't going to get any easier with senior captain and starting point guard Kelsey Hogan sidelined for Sunday's home-opener against Cornell at Lundholm Gym.

Hogan's absence meant UNH coach Maureen Magarity had to be more creative with her backcourt rotation and substitution patterns.

The Wildcats got just enough contributions from their 10 healthy players to hold on for a 59-56 win over the Big Red and improve their record to 3-1.

All four of UNH's games have been decided by six points or fewer, including a pair of three-point victories.

“That's been kind of a trend,” Magarity said. “I feel like the last four games we kind of play down a little bit — peaks and valleys — and then we find a way at the end of the game to come back. I think it said a lot about the younger kids that got more minutes and persevered and found a way to get it done.”

Senior Cari Reed finished with a game-high 17 points, including two free throws with 9.4 seconds left that clinched the outcome.

Making her second start of the season, freshman Elizabeth Belanger had 11 points and a team-best 11 rebounds in 36 minutes.

Belanger came into the game averaging 5.3 points and 3.3 rebounds in 22 minutes. “It was very helpful,” Reed said. “The underclassmen had to pick it up today, and we got just enough out of everybody to pull out the win.”

“I just think it shows that we've grown a lot through the last few years,” Magarity said. “In years past maybe we wouldn't have found a way to win that game.”

The Wildcats showed poise under pressure when it appeared Cornell had all the momentum.

“That was huge,” Reed said, “because we were talking the whole game about staying composed and doing the little things that we needed to do to get the win.”

UNH also received 15 solid minutes from former Oyster River star Jilliane Friel, who had a game-high four assists, three points, two rebounds and two steals.

Friel was seeing her first action of the season because of a concussion that has limited her practice time.

Hogan, who leads the team in assists and minutes and is second in scoring, was also showing signs of a concussion after getting knocked around in last Tuesday's loss at Boston College.

“Kelsey's been playing tremendously for us,” Magarity said. “She's scoring. She just runs our offense. She's like a coach out there honestly. ... Without her we put people in tough positions. Hopefully it shows the team that you have to be ready for anything.”

Magarity expects Hogan back within a week or so as the Wildcats embark on a challenging stretch in which they play seven of their next nine games on the road, beginning Wednesday at Harvard.

“She's just a smart, veteran point guard,” said Cornell coach Dayna Smith. “It changes the way they look and the way they're run. She puts up the points but they picked it up with their subs. They did a nice job. I hoped we could have taken advantage of that a little bit more but we didn't.”

Taylor Flynn led Cornell with 15 points, including a 3-pointer from the top of the key that transformed a 43-42 deficit into a 45-43 lead with 7:44 remaining.

There were two ties and six lead changes down the stretch, the last coming on Wells's clutch basket that made it 57-56 following a UNH timeout.

The Wildcats came up with a defensive stop on the Big Red's next possession. Sophomore Ariel Gaston, who played only 12 minutes because of early foul trouble but came up with a key rebound in the waning seconds, missed the front end of a one-and-one situation with 13.9 seconds left.

But in the scramble for the rebound UNH retained possession.

Reed, who beat Holy Cross with a 3-pointer at the buzzer in the second game of the season, was fouled with 9.4 seconds to go and swished both attempts.

Cornell's Allyson DiMagno, who had a game-high 15 rebounds, tried to get off a contested shot as time expired but it fell well short.

“Our defense needs to get better,” Magarity said. “Hopefully in future games we won't allow teams to come back and we'll kind of secure that lead and build on it.”

Despite leading most of the way, UNH nearly squandered Sunday's opportunity to get back on the winning track.

The Wildcats led by as many as 10 points (39-29) on a 3-pointer by Reed from the wing with 14:15 to go in the second half.

Cornell (3-3) got back in the game with a 16-4 run and took its first lead since 9-8 on Flynn's 3-pointer that made it 45-43 with less than eight minutes left.

Neither team led by more than three points the rest of the way.

“It's one of those games where I'm thrilled that we came away with the win,” Magarity said, “but honestly I'm not too thrilled with how we played, especially on the defensive end. It was ugly.”